Remember
by Akito The Sex Goddess
Summary: Kana always had a strange feeling when it snowed. - One-shot, HatorixKana fluff.
1. When The Snow Melts

Kana always had a strange feeling when it snowed.

She noticed it, that winter. The first snowflake of the year fell much later than expected, in late November, and for some reason, she was thankful for that, even though her entire life she had looked forward to the snowfall. That year was different. Seeing those first large flakes flutter down from the cloudy sky made her nervous for some reason, and she tensed up so much her husband, Matsuda, took notice of it.

"Kana," he began, looking up from his newspaper. It had been a little less than a year that she and the salary man had been together; after only a couple of months of dating, the enamored pair had become engaged, and married shortly after. "What's the matter?"

He could see that she was unmoving as she stared off into the expanse of snowflakes trickling down onto the lawn of their small country home. "Kana?"

She suddenly snapped back into reality, though her large, brown eyes never left the window, her hand pressed up against its glass gently. "I just feel...strange."

"Strange?" the man repeated, lowering his glasses. "Why do you feel strange? Are you sick?"

"No, it isn't that..." the fresh-out-of-training doctor replied, staring at a particular large snowflake that floated down right in front of the large window she stood ahead of. "Say...when the snow melts..." she began, but she froze in place. Her husband looked at her with a concerned look, setting down his newspaper completely.

"What about it?"

Kana, at this point, turned to face the man whose last name she replaced her own with. "Matsuda Takahashi..." she began, her hand still pressed to the glass of the window. "...is an average man."

"I suppose I am," responded her husband, raising a brow at her. "What of it?"

"Matsuda Takahashi...makes average pay. Likes average things," Kana continued, her voice starting to crack. Matsuda began to grow a bit concerned with his new wife.

"You're starting to scare me, Kana."

"I don't...want...average," the doctor began, her eyes faltering down to her feet. The salary man stared at her.

"What are you saying..."

"I don't want an average man!" Kana yelled, her eyes brimming with tears. "I want someone who doesn't let me say I'm okay when I'm not. I want someone who knows that my favorite color is green, or that every time I see a vase I get scared, but I don't know why..." Now she was crying, and she fell to her knees. "I want someone interesting. I want someone who cares. I want someone I _love_."

Matsuda rose from his seat at this point and approached his crying wife, hesitant to hold her, but he placed his hands on her shoulders in comfort. "Kana, when two people get married, they always get... _stressed_, and..."

"No," Kana whispered, shaking her head. "It's more than that. It's more..."

"Then what is it?" he asked, kneeling beside her, but she turned away. She sat that way for some time, thinking it over in her head, before slowly she turned her tear-stained face to look her husband directly in the eye.

"When the snow melts..." she asked, her whisper breaking. "...what does it become?"

Matsuda stared at his wife for quite some time, but shook his head softly after a moment. "Kana..."

Kana was dissatisfied at this answer and frowned. "...I need to go."

"Go _where_?" her husband responded, almost amused by her. She stood quickly and he followed, trying to grab her to stop her, but she escaped his grasp and started down the hall. "Kana!"

The doctor raced out of the house, her shoes abandoned at the door, ignoring her husband's shouts as she dashed out into the snow. Through teary eyes she ran as fast as she could, her breath fogging the air around her. She ran until her lungs ached for release, and then she ran further, her nylon-covered feet damp and crusted with snow. She didn't know why, but she knew something in her life was missing. There was someone, somenwhere, who loved her. There was someone who missed her. Someone that knew her favorite color was green, and that every time she saw a vase she got scared. _Someone_ was out there, she just didn't know who.

Whether it was her lungs or her legs that gave out first, she didn't know, but she collapsed into the snow. It took her a moment to regain her strength and catch her breath, but she slowly lifted her head, and through the fog of her tears she noticed the familiar house she had collapsed into the yard of. She saw the familiar deck, and the familiar door, the familiar windows, the familiar, snowy garden...

It was where she had trained to be a doctor, for an all-too short of a time.

Suddenly, her teary eyes became dry once more, and she stood, the front of her pink rose-colored dress damp from the snow. Just as she did this, however, she met the familiar eyes of a familiar man, a man who seemed too surprised to see her.

"Kana...?"

"Hatori..."

The two stood there, looking at each other for a long time, the only sound being the gentle chirping of a winter bird, and Kana's heavy, foggy breaths.

But, after a moment, the man spoke, after being speechless. "Kana...What are you...doing here?"

"I...I don't know," she answered truthfully, finally catching her breath, and she placed a hand to her heaving chest, since it ached in pain.

Hatori saw her pain, and, although he knew it would hurt him in the end, he offered, "Kana, why don't you come inside..."

Kana shook her head. "Hatori... A long time ago...Someone loved me."

"Kana..." the male doctor began, his voice tearful. However, the other doctor continued.

"Someone used to hold me. Someone used to tell me I was beautiful."

Hatori shook his head in disbelief, staring at her. "N-No..."

"Hatori..." Kana said, coming to a realization now, and she met his eyes, her brows knitting in pain as she asked a question she was hesitant to ask. "When the snow melts...what does it become?"

The dragon's eyes suddenly became brimmed with tears, and, staring ahead of him, he shakily responded. "S...Spring."

Kana broke down in tears, and smiled softly, as she slowly began to walk towards him. Hatori found himself stepping off the deck to approach her, and suddenly they ran at each other, and embraced tightly, their knuckles white from gripping each other's shirts. And they cried, and cried, and didn't say a word for a very, very long time.

"H-Hatori..." Kana breathed into his shirt. "I d-don't remember why... but I know that...that I love you..."

"And I love you, Kana..." Hatori whispered back, words he had not spoken aloud for an entire year. "...I never stopped."

**A/N**: _Alright! That's my little one-shot for the night. Doesn't it sound like it needs a sequel? TOO BAD you're not getting one. Ha ha ha, yes, I am sadistic! Well...maybe I'll give you one, if enough people want it. If not, too bad! Anyway, it's been a long day for me, so good night, FanFiction. ;D_


	2. Never Forget

Hatori gently wrapped a blanket around Kana, who sat in a large, padded chair in her senior's office, a cup of tea steaming in her hands. "Thank you," she said quietly, slowly taking a sip from the cup. The older doctor took a seat across from her, looking at her with eyes more calm than they had been in an entire year.

An entire year... He could hardly believe it. He had already pinched himself many times, wondering if perhaps it had been the liquor that had sent him an apparition of his old girlfriend...but here he was, and here _she_ was, and it had been a whole year. A year of pain, misery, and longing to forget.

And _that_ was the question. How _didn't_ Kana forget? Or rather, how did she remember what he had taken away from her? His services had never undone themselves before, not with the children at Yuki's party, not with anyone else. So why with Kana?

"How are your friends, Shigure and Ayame?" Kana asked quietly, looking up at her past lover with gentle, chocolate eyes. "I haven't seen them in a whole year."

"They're fine," Hatori responded, thankful for the small-talk. It was forced small-talk, but it gave him something to help him start putting his jumbled words into sentences. "Shigure still lives with Kyou and Yuki, and Ayame is, naturally, still himself."

"Wow..." Kana mused softly, her eyes focused down at the steaming mug between her slender fingertips. Suddenly, a smile spread across her lips, and she laughed quietly. "I'm remembering something... It's just a little...piece of something. But..." She pressed the cup to her lips, feeling the heat of the steam against her face. "I remember when you first changed. I think I put you in the bathtub... I didn't know what else to do. I was so scared I was going to kill you." She started laughing. And then, her laughter turned into tears.

Hatori quickly rose from his seat and approached her, kneeling ahead of her and wrapping his arms around her. The doctor cried into her senior's chest, trembling all over as she gripped the back of his sweater hard. "Ha-Hatori... I d-don't remember a lot... But I remember h-how scared I was back then, and h-how scared I am now that I am going to lose you..."

"You're not going to lose me, Kana..." Hatori breathed against her hair, pulling her close to his chest, losing it himself. It was hard for him to stay collected as he normally was, but he tried. "I swear to you."

And slowly, the two looked at each other, and shared a kiss that seemed to last for years.

x x x

"And then...what did we do?" Kana asked, lying naked beneath the sheets, in the arms of the man three years her senior. Her breath against his bare chest tickled, and he looked down at her, his hand absentmindedly running through her locks of chestnut hair.

"I asked if you would marry me, and you said yes."

Kana smiled at that thought, letting her eyes flutter shut. "Say, Hatori... Why is it we can embrace now, without you transforming?"

"Oh," began the other doctor, looking down at her softly. "The curse...was broken, a short while ago."

"Broken, huh..." Kana whispered, drawing circles on his chest blindly. "Hey...Hatori?"

"What is it?" Hatori asked, looking down at his lover. The brunette slowly opened her eyes, but kept them half-lidded.

"Why...did I forget?"

The dragon froze upon this question, and his lover heard the breath catch in his throat. He didn't want to answer her, but he felt she needed to know. "I...I made you forget."

"But... _why_?" Kana persisted, lifting her head to look at him. "Why did I have to forget about us..." Suddenly, she yanked her body away from his. "Did _you_ want me to forget? Did I do something wrong?"

"No..." Hatori reassured her, shaking his head. However, he kept his eyes lowered. "I didn't want you to forget. ..._You_ wanted to forget."

"Wh...What?" Kana asked, much quieter now, staring at Hatori with wide eyes. "I...wanted to forget?"

"Yes..." Hatori admitted painfully, turning his head away from her. Kana took a moment now, looking down at her hands, silently trembling.

"W...Why..."

Hatori took a long time to reply, but when he did, it was calm, and professional. "I informed Akito that we wished to be married. Doing so angered her, and she struck my eye with a vase." At the last word, Kana cringed, seeing flashes of memory in her mind; but Hatori continued. "...I lost most of my vision. Akito blamed you for the injury. And you slowly started to blame yourself. The days turned into weeks, and your depression deepened, until Akito told me it would be best to erase your memory. You thought it would be for the best, because your pain was too immense."

Kana was crying now, silently, letting the tears slip down her cheeks without saying a word. Hatori sat up and wrapped his arms around her, and the two cried into the night.

"Ha...Hatori," she whispered tearfully. "I remember something now...I remember..."

"What is it?" the other doctor asked. Kana swallowed hard.

"Hatori...I never wanted to forget you. I ne...I never wanted to. I just thought it would be better for us if I did..." She gripped her lover tightly as she whispered the next part. "And I remember when you did it...I remember telling myself... 'Kana, don't forget. Please don't forget. Please don't forget.' Over and over in my head, I kept whispering it. 'Please don't forget...'"

At this point, Hatori kissed the doctor in his arms, holding her, consoling her. "You don't have to worry about that any longer, Kana..." he breathed into her ear. "You won't ever forget anymore."

**A/N**: _Well, it looks like I have a new story here... That's what I get for writing a one-shot! -Mutter mutter- Love you guys...please review!_


	3. Wishing to be Wed

Kana slowly started regaining her memory.

She would be pouring coffee and remember that she would always get coffee in the morning for her and Hatori. Or she would see a vase and break down, now knowing the reason behind it. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, until the awful winter that seemed to last an entire year finally melted away into beautiful spring. Hatori's icy heart started melting away into a beautiful rose, which was watered every day by Kana's lively spirit. Together, the two doctors lived, Kana's divorce to her bitter but understanding husband final. And they sat there, one day, on a warm April morning, in each other's arms, on the porch together with two steaming cups of tea at their sides.

"Hatori..." began the female doctor, softly, her large brown eyes half-lidded as she looked at the grainy wooden floor of the porch. "What will Akito say about us?"

"Well," the other doctor remarked, his hand gliding through his girlfriend's shoulder-length brown locks. "Akito has changed quite a bit since our last meeting..." He touched his eye in remembrance. "Since the curse has been broken, he..._she_... has found love for herself. Perhaps, she can understand us, and let us be with one another."

"I hope so, Hatori," Kana whispered with a smile, her eyes looking off into the distance. "Because, well...something has happened to me, Hatori."

The dragon now pulled his head away from her to look at the woman in his arms, his brows furrowed in concern. "What is it, Kana? Are you sick, or...?"

"No, no," the other doctor reassured, looking up at him with a gentle smile. "It's nothing like that...Hatori...I'm..."

"Pregnant?" Akito asked softly. She sat in the dark room, facing the window, as Hatori knelt behind her. Kana was securely out of the room, naturally, and Shigure was currently offering her tea. Although, she was too worried for Hatori, and hadn't touched it.

"Yes, Akito," Hatori responded quietly, his head lowered. "She's pregnant."

Akito was silent for a moment, her dark eyes cold and calculating as they squinted out the window. "And you want to marry her?"

"Yes..." the doctor replied, softer, keeping his head low. Akito rose from her seat now, slowly, her shadow rising over Hatori's figure.

x x x

"Kana..." Shigure prodded at the girl, who stared into her cup. "It won't disappear from its cup by staring at it."

"I'm just...worried," Kana whispered, taking her first sip from the cup of tea she had been holding for a few moments already. "What if something happens again...What if she hits his other eye?"

"Akito has changed a lot," the dog replied, sipping from his own cup of tea. "She isn't perfect, but she changed a lot."

"I hope so..." Kana said gently. Shigure saw the look in her eye, and poked her chin.

"Cheer up, he'll be fine," he smiled and ruffled her hair. "C'mon, I wouldn't let my best friend in there alone with a maniac, now, would I? Besides..." Shigure, at this point, pressed his cup to his lips. "Akito's my wife. I know her better than the back of my hand"

"_So that's what he meant when he said she found love."_ Kana thought. She looked up, then, smiling at him. "Thank you, Shigure. For your kind words. I feel better hearing them."

"It's nothing," Shigure had just begun to say as the shoji door slid open. There stood Hatori, who Kana quickly stood to greet, though she held back from embracing him.

"So," Shigure began, setting down his cup of tea. "What's the verdict?"

Hatori looked at his friend, and then at his lover, before saying softly. "We're to be married."

_Well, there's a new chapter for ya! I'm going to work on a Christmas story next, then hopefully work on my Shigure and Akito story... That I've been putting off. Ehehe... -Sweatdrop- Please read and review!_


End file.
